Swim Lessons

The boys did 2 sessions of swim lessons this summer! Tomorrow is their last day! They have amazed me with their skills. Brett's instructor has been working on fine-tuning & getting him ready for swim team, which hopefully we'll do next summer! (Brett is pictured below)
After only 4 days of lessons, we saw an enormous improvement in Davis! He was a total non-swimmer before these lessons... and after 2 sessions he is doing incredibly. He's so cute to watch... he's such a great listener & an over-achiever! (Davis is pictured below)
Libby & I mostly escaped to the playground during lessons... she was always either trying to get in the pool, waving to her brothers & flirting with the others or was trying to bring the boys their shoes.
The boys have made me so proud... as a former competitive swimmer it makes me happy to see my kids excelling at my favorite sport. Hopefully, next year we'll get them on SWIM TEAM!

The REST of the Photos from St.L

Here are the rest of the photos from our trip!
{CLICK TO ENLARGE any of the photos!}

We made a couple trips to the park by my parents' house... it's so perfect for kids. Stables with horses, a playground & a walking trail with a little pond!
Saturday was Eli's Birthday Party at their neighborhood park!
So fun... but definitely sweltering. We bought some spray bottles to help keep everybody cool. When I say everybody, I mean everybody.
These kids made sure no one died of heat stroke. Luckily we had all the spray bottles set at a "mist" so that no one got a line drive in their eye. Everyone got wet... whether it was just from sweat or from the spray bottles, it was hard to tell. :)
Eli was a RIOT eating his cake. I've never seen a 1 year old just destroy a cake like he did. Leah & Todd did a great job on their 1st Birthday Party! :) Full spread... cheeseburgers, hotdogs, chips, veggies, fruit! YUM... I really enjoyed my cheeseburger!
Sunday we went out to Glencoe, MO where there's a mini train you can ride. It wasn't just a rinky dink ride in a circle... we rode along the Meramac River along the bluffs... it was really pretty. (Okay, so it was rinky dink) We'll have to go back & do it in the fall - it'd be beautiful! It was a great trip!
Thanks mom & dad for putting up with us all & all the messes, all the shenanigans, all the meals & the train ride!
And have I already posted a pic of this guy? Oh... I did, you say? Well ... one more won't hurt!

Funny Fotos - Trip to St.Louis

I'll do a separate post with more pictures... but I wanted to get all these out of the way. These are our "Funny Fotos" from this past weekend. We laughed sooo much this weekend, it was a blast. There's nothing like being back at your mom & dad's house with your 2 sisters... and our 5 kids (between the 3 of us). So here are some of the things that made us laugh.
1.) The car ride... Becky & Roman rode with me, Brett, Davis, Libby & Daisy. [This photo was taken at a drive-thru... we were at a stop, don't worry!] Doesn't this look like fun? Too bad we couldn't have squeezed 1 more person in between B & D... we had room!
2.) My mom's own words are the caption for this photo... "This is when you know the inmates are running the prison."
3.) We were looking for a place to hang the basketball goal. It needed to hang over a door & I thought the china cabinet looked like a great place! :)
4.) I realize these photos really don't need much of an explanation for why they made this post... but these are dolls my mom had in her basement. She brought them up for the kids to play with (I think partly as a joke). My favorite was the one on the right, I kept calling "Baby Daddy". (Becky was calling it "Papa Brady") It will give me nightmares for WEEKS. Way too much conflicting facial hair... sweet baby, girlish eyelashes, creepy eyebrows & then a freaky deeky mustache. I sent Kyle a couple text message photos of this guy, just to freak him out. He begged me to stop. I was trying to make Roman get attached to him... but he kept throwing him down. Wonder why?
5.) This is a video my mom dug out a few visits ago. She had it in her VHS stash from when she used to teach English as a Second Language. Brett LOVES IT & begs to watch it every day, all day. It is absolutely HORRIBLE in every way, shape & form. But he loves it. We love that it comes with trading cards... and the "Harold Borovec" trading card has become the butt of the joke.
6.) We went on a little train ride in Glencoe, MO. I got the pleasure of sitting in front of my nephew Roman. He kept lifting up my shirt & exposing much of my back & all that that entails. So when the train switched directions & we all turned in our seats, I was sure to pay him back! :) (no pun intended...)
7.) Hmmm...who did this? This just doesn't look good...
8.) The kids LOVED playing with the laundry baskets!!! It was so cute, they kept playing "nap".
9.) Saturday was my nephew Eli's 1st Birthday Party! I LOVE this photo... as soon as Leah presented him with the cake & we started singing, he hooted & hollared having the time of his life. What a cutie!!!!
10.) Grandma & Grandpa look wayyyyyy too excited to be saying "goodbye"!!!!!!!!! :)

Coffee Talk with Roman

Almost exactly 2 1/2 years ago was when my mom & sister ("Aunt Reebs") gave my almost-2 year old coffee for the 1st time! :) I was attempting to sleep in... and "while I was sleeping" I missed "Coffee Talk with Davis". But they took pictures with my camera to show me.

So now it's Roman's turn! While his mommy was sleeping in, Grandma & Aunt Rachel gave Roman his 1st cup of coffee. He loved it. He kept doing this little head tilt thing after every sip, it was so cute! I love payback!

More pics coming soon!

Just Hangin' Out!

Here are some funny pics of the kids just hanging out in the office while Mom's on the computer. I'm sure they all started out bored & came in to bug me or ask me for a snack, but in no time they were having fun together just hanging out! GOTTA LOVE RANDOM FUN.

Telling the world...

Tonight I was sickened by the comments made about Autistic children & their parents. [click here to be brought up to speed] I was immediately brought to tears & I can't even read the story again without feeling sick. It really stung. I think why it stung so much is because we live it & struggle with it every single day. And unless you've walked a mile in our shoes, you shouldn't dare criticize how we're parenting, question the disposition of my child, or make a mockery of his challenges.

I thank God for giving me such a laid back personality because as a mother of an Autistic child, it really comes in handy. I can't tell you the number of times I've had to deal with a tantrum in front of an audience... and I'm sure they thought I was just a bad mom oblivious to my child's needs. But in reality, I'm a mother who knows my child better than anybody & I gingerly handle every single situation, knowing his heart, his ego & his future is in my hands.

Since before Brett was 2 years old, we've heard it all from one end of the spectrum to the other. He's been in various therapies since he was 2 1/2, seen multiple doctors, a neurologist & a developmental pediatrician. After all our evaluations & the 100's of forms we've filled out, everything seems to be close, but no diagnosis is a perfect match (although if you want to start somewhere, you can check out Atypical Autism, PDD, etc.). I went from not wanting to know, to wanting to know, and now that we don't know for sure... I'm happy to be there, too.

Not putting a label on him leaves plenty of room for wonderful surprises. It makes life's little accomplishments that much sweeter. When he spontaneously tells you "I love you", you feel it in every bone of your body because you know that showing expression & emotion is supposed to be a deficit & that for the 1st 3 1/2 years of his life he didn't talk. Instead of just wanting to brag that your son got his 1st soccer goal, you just want to cry tears of joy & you can look at that picture of his gloaty little face over & over again, and still want to cry [photo top right]. Instead of just being proud of your son for going off the high-dive at the pool, you talk about the 100's of things that you're shocked didn't discourage him & smile knowing he's stronger than you think he is. When you hear that the coach stopped t-ball practice to point out to the rest of the kids what your son did right as 3rd baseman, you thank God for that boost in his self-esteem & that it got to happen in front of his peers. For a little guy who has always been developmentally behind, you swoon at those moments that he seems right on track, if not ahead.

Parenting has its own struggles. You don't get looks of sympathy because it's very unlike any disability that has physical traits. You usually come off looking like a bad parent, or worse, that your child is a bad kid. It's schmoozing with other parents & wondering if they're wondering if there's something wrong with him. It's wondering if you should say something, and if when you do if you said too much. It's wondering when & if you should intervene when you watch him struggle with his peers. It's pretty much just wondering everything.

I love watching Brett change people. I've seen teachers, coaches & even therapists who I'm sure thought they had it all figured out... until Brett came along. :) I love people that "get him" without really getting "it". I don't even have words to express gratitude for those type of people. The people who haven't necessarily been told, but don't make assumptions, either. They just treat him like a regular kid, offering extra help when it's needed & sensing that anything less would be disrespectful. I love seeing the excitement in other people, when Brett accomplishes something new & something that looked like it was stacked against him. I love knowing that others are rooting for him.

Our lives have more challenges than others, but we also have the sweet rewards that come with those challenges. We know that our life wouldn't be the same without our sweet Brett & we know all those who get to know Brett won't be the same after meeting him. He is an amazing kid, we won't let anyone tell us otherwise & we want to tell the world!

Happy 1st Birthday Eli!

Happy Birthday to my sweet nephew Elijah James. We hope you have a fantastic day filled with FUN. We'll see you soon.

XOXO
Love,
Aunt Rachel, Uncle Kyle, Cousins Brett, Davis & Libby

The little Mommy

After realizing Libby loved playing with little baby dolls {surprised?} I finally got her some. She has boy & girl twins... which I have playfully nicknamed "Knox & Vivienne". (Tell me you know what I'm talking about) They are so cute, came with their own little bottles & smell like baby powder. She's really enjoyed playing with them!

Yesterday we had our neighbors over to play & their mom, Lisa, said "I bet she'd really love having a stroller..." So she ran down to the house & gave Libby one of the doll strollers her daughters have out grown. (Although Leah, the reaction was similar to Davis's when I told you Eli could have Davis's baby walker/ride-on toy) :)

Luckily, Libby's got a while to work on her Mommy skills. Although she has tender-loving moments with them, she also man-handles those twins, throws them down to the ground & even took their spot in the stroller. Someone's not ready to give up her role as the baby... and that's just fine with her Mommy! :)

Fun at the Zoo

We took our 2 little monkeys to the zoo! We had so much fun! B & D were at summer camp, so Becky & I took the little ones to the Zoo. Libby & Roman had sooo much fun & were so good! In this picture Libby is growling - it's one of her new tricks... Here we are taking some funny pics. If you don't get the camel pic, don't ask.

We got to see Australia & some of Africa, Becky & Roman rode a camel, we had lunch with the giraffes, then we had some little nappers! Well, I guess 1 wasn't, little. :) [Note: this was staged, in case some of you are worried her back pain medicine is causing narcolepsy]

What a Deere!

The other day we got a package in the mail! It was SWAG from the VP of John Deere. He had been on Kyle's flight a few weeks ago & was really grateful to SWA, Kyle & his crew. He had the crew write down their addresses [after telling them he was the VP of John Deere] & told them he was going to send them stuff. We got some hats, coolies & other fun free goods! How nice! (Davis fell asleep during dinner, so he didn't get to try out the coolie.) P.S. Yep, Libby's still got her bracelets! :)

My Girl

Libby & I have had a lot of Mother-Daughter time lately. All THREE boys went to Chicago last week & then all this week B & D have had summer camp! So Libs & I have had fun palling around, doing the girly thing. She's even more girly than me. Check out her bracelets! She's worn bracelets of all kinds every day for the past 2 weeks. She even found all her baby links (those plastic chains) & has been wearing them, too. She cracks me UP. She's so darn girly, I'm lovin' it.

The Boys in Chicago

Kyle, his friend Steve, and the boys went to Chicago last week for 36 hours of fun. I kept getting text message photos of them (all the photos in this post were taken w/ Kyle's cell phone) & I just could not believe all they were doing!!!

They stayed downtown with Steve & Kyle's friend from high school, Dan, & his fiance Ela! What a trooper Ela was for putting up with all the boys!

In their 36 hours they rode the El, went to the beach on Lake Michigan, a Cubs game, the Chicago Zoo, out to dinner at Goose Island... did I miss anything?

Dan & Ela, thanks for the hospitality... and Steve thanks for going with my 3 boys! :)